The Telangana government has delivered good news for gig and platform workers operating in the state, gearing up to soon issue rules governing their welfare and social security. The Telangana Platform-Based Gig Workers Bill-2025 has already been passed by the state Legislative Assembly. Against this backdrop, the government is set to issue the accompanying rules from the 15th of this month, paving the way for the law’s implementation. Officials stated that the Shakti (Skill Human Capital and Knowledge Training Initiatives) department is making the necessary arrangements to this effect. Officials also revealed that a dedicated board, headed by the Shakti department minister, will be set up to provide welfare schemes for gig workers.
Once the law comes into force, the government will establish a welfare fund to provide social security and insurance schemes for workers, ensuring that platform-based companies make payments into this fund. To this end, aggregators will be required to submit updates and additions to gig workers’ records to the board once every 60 days. The law also incorporates a key provision barring the termination of workers without at least a week’s prior notice, in order to ensure job security for workers. While the law mandates timely payments to workers, it also allows companies to terminate a worker without notice if it is proven that the worker has physically or mentally harassed a customer.
All gig workers will be required to register on a government portal. Every gig worker who registers in this manner will be issued a registration ID, along with access to social security schemes. A sum of 1-2% of the payments made by aggregators to gig workers will be transferred to the welfare fund. To this end, the government will set up a corpus fund to implement these schemes. Platforms will be mandatorily required to disclose details of payments made to workers as well as any deductions. The rules also provide for penalties of up to ₹50,000 in cases where aggregators or platform workers are found to have committed violations.
Around 3 Lakh Workers to Benefit
Officials estimate that approximately 3 lakh gig workers are currently employed across various sectors in Telangana. In the absence of job security and insurance, these workers face numerous difficulties, relying on day-to-day orders to support their families. Many workers also meet with accidents while striving to deliver services on time. With the intent of providing social security to gig workers, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy held a meeting with the labour department, platform-based companies, aggregators, and workers on December 23, 2024, during which he sought to understand workers’ problems and demands. Subsequently, the labour department released a draft bill on April 14, 2025, to enable the implementation of the necessary schemes for gig workers. After examining more than 250 representations and objections received from the public, aggregators, and platform companies, appropriate changes were incorporated before the bill was passed. With this, Telangana is set to become the fifth state — after Karnataka, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and Bihar — to extend social security protections to gig workers.